The L.A. Story Redux

...aka "This is weird. I'm going the speed limit (65 mph) and I'm passing people and I've only been passed by 3 or 4 people. If I did this at home on I-95, I'd be dead by now."


Wednesday

Pretty low-key. A bunch of last minute packing that I didn't do the night before (mostly toiletries). Then drove down to nakedwesley's house in the early evening so that we could make it to Washington-Dulles airport in time on Thursday. Also got to watch "Smile Time" with her, which was lots of fun. (And it was probably a really good idea that I was at her place for this episode, since my dad already looks at me weird for how involved I am with the show.)


Thursday

So we were watching the D.C. news before leaving for the airport to get info on the traffic situation so that we could plan an alternate route if need be when they started showing a story on the nation's worst bottlenecks. D.C. claimes #7 and #15. We were going to be taking #15. Luckily, by the time we got down there, it wasn't too bad. We had a nonstop flight out to L.A. which, while long, got us out there about mid-afternoon, local time. When we entered the baggage claim area, we saw a guy walking by with an empty baggage cart (I know, I know - not very interesting), but it took us about half a second to recognize that it was Stephen Collins from "7th Heaven", so that was very cool.

After arriving at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, I accidentally tapped a cab when I was backing up. The good thing is that a) the cabbie was cool about it and b) the worst that happened was that I got some paint on the rental car. (Although this lady bystander seened more upset about it than I was.)

Ate dinner at Mel's Diner, which was cool and I think either used in, or a replica of the diner from, American Graffitti. Then we went to the Erotic Museum. That was really neat. They had a bunch of artwork, some videos, some history, some toys - a little bit of everything, really. Including these really cool Russian dolls that went from being bigger than me and completely covered, except for a pipe to breath, to having the eyes, nose, and mouth visible, and then in various stages of undress down to a little one in lingere and then a dildo and then a AA battery. There was also some Tom of Finland pieces, which was really cool. Plus this see-through box with some dildos, and breast implants and some gloves so you could stick your hands in and play with the toys. And everything was generously lubed, so that was highly amusing.


Friday

Drove about half of Mulholland Dr. Would've done the whole thing, but accidentally got off because it wasn't clearly marked. But it was cool, very scenic. Drove down part of Melrose Ave (which looks like it has a lot of cool shops on it, wish we had time to check them out) and Rodeo Dr. (Did you know that the part with all the swanky shops is only, like, 2 blocks long?) Ended up being in that part of town because we had decided to drive the directions we had gotten from Mapquest for the "official" hotel, and then found that taking the freeway would be easier. Figures, right?

Went on the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. That was really cool. Got to see the sets for "The Drew Carey Show" and "Gilmore Girls", part of the props storage, and some of the backlot. It's amazing how many movies and tv shows were shot in an area the size of my house. While we were there, Kath said she saw Mehki Pheiffer from "ER" and we saw Kyle Chandler from "Early Edition", and the creator of "The West Wing" drove by on his golf cart at one point (and has a "Bartlett for America" bumper sticker on it).

Then we went down to Seal Beach to meet serafina20 and have dinner. It was lots of fun and she's great. I love being able to talk fandom and not have people think I'm crazy.

Then we went back to the hotel and changed for the Social, which we only spent about an hour at, because we got there late, but it was fun. Got to see some of the stuff that they were auctioning off for the Wooten Center, but didn't get to bid because we got there too late. Some of Tim Minear's comments were funny - like "This is the one where I killed Holtz". Got to see Halfrek, Ancient Watcher, her niece, and eatstake. So it was lots of fun. Until we went to get the car. The valet people tried to convince us that no, we did not have a gold Toyota Corolla, we had a black Mazda. (How you can get the two mixed up, I don't know.) After arguing for about 15 minutes, they finally went to look for it and actually found it. Something about the doorman gave us the wrong type of ticket or something.


Saturday

Got to meet treebee today, who's also such a sweetheart.

On the way over to the "official" hotel (since her hotel was right around the corner and she thought it would be easier for us to meet her there), we found out that we had a flat tire. As in, we had just gotten onto the freeway about 2 blocks from our hotel and someone's pointing at the front left tire of our car. And we were like, "What's going on?" So we figured it was probably just some weirdo, but we'd check when we got over there. By the time we got there, there wasn't much air in the tire. Needless to say, we were very relieved that we had gotten there safely. So we called the car rental place and told them what was going on and they were like, "No problem, we'll send somebody out." So we figured that they would either send someone out with a replacement car while they took our car to get fixed (not that changing a flat is a big deal, even if I don't know how to do it), or they'd just fix the car for us. When they came out, they did the latter and then told us that changing a tire wasn't covered in the insurance (I got all the insurance I could from them that they offered for an underage driver), and that we had to call the rental place and talk to them about it. Didn't get a chance to call, but I think we're going to have to pay for it. I don't think it's going to be much, but it's frustrating. What'd they think? That we slashed the tire so they'd have to come out on a Saturday and fix it? Should've just called AAA, then it would've been fixed for free.

Went to a farmer's market for a while before driving back to Hollywood and went to some book and poster shops on Hollywood Blvd that we had gone to last year. I got a still from "Angel", a really slashy RotK poster, and an autobiography of Rock Hudson. Were also looking at some of the stars - which was neat. And how in the Hell did Drew Carey get a star next to Bela Lougosi??? Ate at the Pig & Whistle, which, methinks, was mentioned by Gunn in a recent ep of "Angel". Saw Richard Karn from "Home Improvement" when the three of us were going up to Kath's and my hotel room. He was being interviewed in this lounge area of the hallway in our hotel.

The Wolfram & Hart Annual Review was lots of fun. Not many big stars were there, but Andy Hallett, Mark Lutz, Jonathan Woodward, James Leary, Julie Benz, Sarah Thompkins, Ron Glass, Drew Goddard, Tim Minear, David Fury, Jeff Bell, and Steven DeKnight showed up. I got to talk to TM, JB, and DG. They were lots of fun to talk to. And got my picture taken with them as well as AH, ML, and JL. And I have to say that Jonathan is a spaz, but in a very good way. I bid on a signed cript of "Life of the Party" and a cool, signed poster from "Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco", but didn't get either. Spike's amulet was one of the things auctioned, and it went for over $2500. Yes, you read correctly. In the first 15 minutes, someone bid $1500 on it. The funny part was that when I first checked, one of Angel's coat (the clipboard for which was right next to the one for the amulet) was only going for $300, but I know that it went for more in the end. The committee was hoping to raise $10,000 for the Wooten Center and ended up raising $15,000. So that's very cool. Kath gave Fury Alexis' birthday stuff, so hopefully he'll get it in a timely manner.


Sunday

Feet were still hurting from the shoes when I woke up. Luckily, no welts or anything. Got to see the Oscar statuettes, since they were on display in the Hollywood & Highland Mall that's attached to our hotel. Tried to finish driving Mulholland Dr, but couldn't figure out how to get on it going in the other direction, so gave up and figured we'd do it another time when we're out. (Gotta leave at least *something* to do, right?) Went to It's a Wrap, which is a second-hand clothing store that has clothes from tv shows and movies. Didn't see anything that I really liked, but it was interesting.

Then drove down to Santa Monica for the afternoon, but then it started raining and it was drizzling the whole time we were there. Walked on the Third Street Promenade for a few blocks and went into some bookshops (and, yes, bought some more books). Then we went to the Library Alehouse for dinner, which is very good and while we were eating, it started to pour.

We were happy that we had decided that we were going to return the car and head to LAX early. I don't understand why, at 6:30, one of the employees of the rental agency (when he had obviously just finished a customer), said to me, "Sorry, we're closed" when I was about to ask him a question on where to park the car since there was only one space and it was rather small and it was either parking and not being able to get out of the car and not parking and being able to leave. And he also said this to a lady who came up at the same I did to drop off her keys as well and told her that she had to drop them off in the lobby of the hotel. What was the problem with him taking them if that's all he had to do? At least I didn't leave my coat in the trunk this time. :-P Made it to the airport rather early and got through security rather easily and then hung out at the gate for a few hours and read. Am really enjoying Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen. Also had this chocolate brownie frappachino from Starbucks, which was really good.


Monday

Slept for most of the plane ride, which was good, since I needed to be awake to drive home. Was a pretty uneventful trip home. Like someone said during the weekend, "I love L.A., but I don't think I want to live here." As much as I love L.A., I don't want to make it my permenant residence, even if I do want to spend more time out there.